


Should old acquaintance be forgot

by pianoforeplay



Series: Number 'verse [2]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-10
Updated: 2011-07-10
Packaged: 2017-10-21 05:22:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/221382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pianoforeplay/pseuds/pianoforeplay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Jared and Jensen celebrate a milestone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Should old acquaintance be forgot

**Author's Note:**

> Though Jared and Jensen are both of legal age here (Jared is 18, Jensen is 22), there are some references to some underage stuff (when Jared was 15). If that bothers you, you'll probably want to stay away. Initially posted [here](http://pianoforeplay.livejournal.com/42019.html) on 11/14/2010.

The house is already filled to capacity by the time Jared gets there, people spilling out the front door onto the lawn, mingling and laughing and smoking. He recognizes a couple of the faces, one or two of them tossing smiles his way when they notice him in return. Jared smiles right back as he makes his way through the crowd, squeezing through the mess of people to get inside.

It's about twenty degrees hotter in the house and the is music loud, Eminem pounding through the speakers, though even that is still overwhelmed by the chaotic chatter of conversation. Red, plastic cups in various stages of emptiness litter nearly every horizontal surface, along with more than a few crushed beer cans, and Jared only hopes he doesn't get roped into having to help clean up tomorrow morning. There's still a dilapidated Christmas tree occupying one corner of the living room, it's dry branches wilting sadly, weighed down by the garland of bottle caps and the naked Barbie doll angel at the top. Strings of colored Christmas lights line the ceiling, painting the walls in hues of red, green, blue and yellow as the television in the other corner soundlessly shows the time-delayed ABC countdown from New York.

Jared checks his watch as he steps inside, notes that he still has a good half hour until the ball drops. It then takes him a solid fifteen minutes to reach the kitchen, due both to the pure crush of people and the couple dozen of them who stop him along the way, greeting him with wide, drunken smiles and teasing jabs. None of them are who Jared's looking for, though, and he keeps his conversations short as he continues to push through.

"Hey, JT, man! You lookin' for your bro?" Mike Dilinger shouts over the music, his arm slung over the shoulder of a really pretty blonde girl Jared's never seen before.

He isn't, really. Not that he'd mind -- he always gets some amusement out of seeing his brother completely shitfaced -- but that isn't why he's here. "You seen him?" he asks all the same, pitching his voice loud enough to be heard over the music.

"Think he disappeared upstairs awhile ago," Mike says, nodding at the stairs just past Jared's shoulder.

"Alone?"

Mike laughs, quick and sharp. "Yeah, right."

Jared rolls his eyes inwardly as he tosses Mike a smirk. "Thanks for the warning," he says and then nods at the girl before continuing on his way. If there is one thing Jared definitely never needs to see, it's his brother's pathetic attempts at getting laid. Or, worse yet, _succeeding_.

Grabbing his own red cup when he finally gets to the kitchen, Jared scoops himself up some jungle juice. After savoring a small sip, he picks out a piece of pineapple and licks his thumb and forefinger clean. The kitchen is only a little less crowded, a fair number of people lining the counters, clustered into groups of three or four, only a few of whom Jared recognizes.

There's a half demolished bucket of chips at the other end of the table and Jared helps himself to a handful before a girl on the other side of the room catches his eye. She's very pretty, petite with dark hair and dark eyes. She's sporting a tiara made of cardboard and glitter and the cut of her shirt tastefully emphasizes her breasts. Jared's certain that if he wasn't totally gay he'd definitely be interested.

Despite that, he gives her a friendly smile. She seems to take it as encouragement, stepping away from her cluster of friends to approach him.

"Hi. I think you were in my physics class last semester," she tells him, her fingers wrapped around one of the ubiquitous red cups. "Merrick on Mondays and Wednesdays?"

"Yeah, hi!" Jared replies, his smile widening as he holds out a hand. "I'm Jared. Sorry, I didn't-- my buddy Chad kind of took up all my attention in that class. Had to keep him in line, you know? Full-time job."

"Genevieve," the girl replies, her hand briefly disappearing in his grip before she takes another sip of her drink. "So who do you know here?"

"Brother, actually," Jared says, sliding his hand into his pocket when Genevieve releases it, easy and relaxed. "He shares this place with a couple other guys."

"But not you?"

"Freshman," Jared replies with a small smile. "Gotta serve my dues in the dorms for a year." Smirking, Genevieve nods and Jared continues, "So. You havin' a good time?"

They talk for awhile longer, which is how Jared discovers Genevieve's a junior double majoring in Drama and English Lit. and currently sharing an apartment with two other girls on the other side of campus. She's surprisingly easy to talk to, her smile bright and friendly the whole time. She admits to having difficulties in Merrick's class and Jared feels genuinely sorry he hadn't met her earlier when he could've helped out, put some of his math skills to good use.

When he says as much, Genevieve laughs and shakes her head. Says, "Right, like I would've been able to concentrate with you around."

For a moment, Jared's not quite sure how to take it. But then Genevieve tilts her head a little, glances up at him through her eyelashes and it hits him, his face flushing slightly as he lets out a quick, nervous laugh.

This isn't the first time he's been hit on, not by a long shot, but it still always manages to trip him up. Especially when it's a girl. He's been out for a little over a year now and, while the news had broken and spread through his high school like wildfire, he's only been at UT for a few months. Useful as it might be, it's not like he walks around with a sign around his neck proclaiming his sexuality.

Though the idea is kind of tempting if only to cut down on these kinds of awkward situations.

"I, uh," he starts, tugging his hand out of his pocket to scratch at the back of his neck. "That's--"

A sudden, warm hand on his shoulder cuts Jared short and he glances back, relief rushing though his blood at the sight of familiar green eyes.

"Hey."

"Hey," Jared says, unable to keep a grin from splitting his face. "Where've you been?"

"Outside," Jensen replies, nodding over his shoulder. "Helping Chris with the grill out back."

Nodding, Jared resists the urge to wrap his arm around Jensen's back and pull him in close. Jensen's not big on public displays, even ones as innocuous as hand-holding and Jared's generally completely fine with that. But he hasn't seen Jensen since yesterday and he's already had a little to drink. Jared has a difficult time keeping his hands to himself in Jensen's presence on a normal day, much less after he's been drinking.

"Hi, I'm Genevieve."

Jared startles a little, tries to cover it up with a laugh as he reaches to light touch Genevieve's arm. "Shit, sorry. Jensen, this is Genevieve. She was in my physics class last semester."

Jensen nods with his own sympathetic smile. "Merrick?"

"Unfortunately," Genevieve replies.

"That guy is awful. Had him a couple years ago, think I fell asleep during every single lecture."

"I probably should've,," Genevieve says, lips curved in a small grin. "Have the feeling it would've been a better use of my time." Tapping the side of her cup with one finger, she looks over at Jared then with that same expression from before, the tilted little eyelash thing, and then focuses on Jensen. "So how do you know Jared?"

Jared almost misses the sidelong glance Jensen gives him, but the beat of hesitance is totally blatant, as is the slight twist to his smile.

"Funny story, actually," Jensen says before roughly clearing his throat. "He's, uh."

"He's my boyfriend," Jared interrupts, eager to just get it out there. Though Jensen's been out longer than Jared has, he's still a lot less comfortable talking about it. It's been an issue between them before, though mostly that had been due to some miscommunication and lack of understanding. They'd gotten over it.

Genevieve blinks, clearly surprised, though she covers it well with a quick smile. "Oh, well, hi!" she says brightly, thrusting her hand out to Jensen. "It's nice to meet you."

Jared can't tell whether or not her enthusiasm is faked, but she's still smiling as Jensen takes her hand. "In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit to shamelessly hitting on Jared here a few seconds ago," she says then, smile sheepish as she shoots a glance to Jared. "I really didn't know, I'm sorry."

Out the corner of his eye, Jared sees Jensen's eyebrows lift.

"Oh, he didn't reciprocate!" Genevieve rushes to add. "It was all me. _All_ me. I swear, I had no idea."

She's kind of adorably earnest and Jared can't help but laugh a little. "Well, who can blame you for wanting a shot at this, right?" he asks, teasing as he holds his arms out in display.

"Isn't he charming?" Jensen says dryly.

"I am charming."

"And astoundingly modest."

"Don't forget smart, funny and hot as hell."

Jensen blinks, then turns to Genevieve. "You can have him if you really want," he says. "I warn you, though, he's seriously high maintenance and will probably steal all your hair products."

"Hey, some of us aren't as naturally beautiful as you. Don't hate."

"He is very good at being tall, though," Jensen adds, ignoring him.

"And I make a mean grilled cheese."

"He does make a mean grilled cheese."

Genevieve is watching them like she's at a tennis match, her smile a little uncertain before she lets out a soft laugh. "You two are kind of sickeningly adorable. It's a little nauseating."

Jared's just about to reply that the jungle juice may have something to do with that when the music suddenly cuts out and a voice from the other room shouts, "ONE MINUTE!" and the house suddenly explodes into a flurry of activity.

"Hey, I'll catch you later, okay?" Genevieve says before disappearing into the crowd attempting to cram themselves into the living room.

He and Jensen hang back, Jared more than content to simply listen to the countdown in the comfort of the suddenly empty kitchen. Not to mention the tiny bit of semi-alone time it'll allow with Jensen.

"So she's sweet," Jensen says once the last person has vacated the room.

Not even bothering to fight a grin, Jared turns to face Jensen full on, his free hand dropping to Jensen's side to hook a finger through his belt loop. While they're technically still in public, he figures Jensen's willing to stretch the rules just a little. "Do I detect a hint of jealousy, Jen?"

Jensen only shrugs and takes a step closer, hands smoothing up over the front of Jared's shirt. "Eh. She's not really my type."

Laughing, Jared nods as he sets his cup of jungle juice on the counter and then leans in, resting his forehead to Jensen's, his hands on Jensen's hips. They stand just like that for a long few seconds, listening to Dick Clark's voice blaring loud from the other room, muted only by the wall and the laughter and chatter of the other people.

"Susan Smallwood," Jared says eventually, thumbs brushing over the skin just above Jensen's waistband.

"Hmm?"

"Three years ago," Jared clarifies as the crowd in the other room starts counting down from thirty. "You went to that party with Jeff, do you remember? I went to Mitch Martinez's house."

"Okay," Jensen replies, the word drawn out as he pulls back a little to meet Jared's eyes, clearly uncertain of what Jared's getting at. "I remember getting really wasted that night and Jeff driving home. Not my smartest idea ever."

Jared laughs at the memory, his smile widening. "My parents made you guys clean out the attic in punishment."

"And the garage. _And_ the shed."

"Do you remember anything about the rest of that night?"

 _"Twenty, nineteen, eighteen, seventeen..."_

Jensen's grin then is slow and a little sly as he smooths his hands down Jared's stomach. "Enough, yeah."

"I lied to you," Jared says, waiting only a beat before continuing. "You came into my room and asked me if I'd kissed anyone at midnight and I lied."

As expected, Jensen pulls back a little, brow furrowed. Jared tightens his grip on Jensen's sides, smile sheepish, but imploring. Though he's not exactly confessing to some deep, horrible secret, he doesn't want to freak Jensen out before he makes that clear. He has to do this right.

"I kissed Susan Smallwood," he says before exhaling another quiet laugh. "But I lied because I was afraid if I told the truth, you wouldn't do it."

 _"Sixteen, fifteen, fourteen, thirteen..._ "

"Do what, kiss you?"

Jared's smile widens, feeling oddly relieved that Jensen's following. "Yeah. You were so drunk and I was so pathetic over you. I didn't want to miss an opportunity, you know?"

"So you took advantage of me in my enfeebled state."

"I did," Jared says, both hands slipping up under Jensen's shirt, one spanning the small of his back. "And I don't regret it one bit."

"You were a fucking Lolita, you know that? God, it's amazing your parents didn't figure it out."

"It's amazing _Jeff_ didn't figure it out."

"No, he did," Jensen says with a nervous-sounding laugh. "He just didn't want to believe it."

 _"Twelve, ten, nine, eight..."_

"Pretty sure he still doesn't, actually," Jared agrees. Sliding his hand higher up Jensen's back, Jared leans in closer, lips just hovering over Jensen's. "So you know what this means, right?"

"That you're secretly in love with Susan Smallwood?"

 _"Seven, six, five..."_

Breathing a soft laugh, Jared shakes his head. "Not quite."

"That you've been letting me operate under false pretenses for the past three years?"

 _"Four, three.."_

Giving a low, playful growl, Jared bumps their noses together and rocks his hips slightly. Whispers, "It means I'm coming clean."

 _"Two..."_

"And that today is our anniversary," he finishes, breathing the statement against Jensen's parted lips as the other room chants the final number and explodes into cheers, cheap noisemakers rattling and honking, champagne bottles popping. It all dies away to white noise when Jensen laughs into his mouth and surrenders, letting Jared cradle the side of his face with one hand, a touch of thumb to the hinge of Jensen's jaw. He doesn't kiss like he did three years ago; desperate and sloppy and young. He doesn't kiss like he's afraid this is his one and only chance with the hottest guy he's ever seen.

This time it's slow and unhurried. Sure and confident and full of promise.

This time he kisses like it will never end. Because he knows it doesn't have to.

 **end.**


End file.
